Palay purchases come up short

MANILA, Philippines—The National Food Authority (NFA) failed to achieve its purchase target of 870,000 metric tons of unmilled rice from local farmers last year due to a lack of funds.

The agency was only able to buy 280,382 MT under its palay procurement program in 2011, Department of Agriculture (DA) data showed.

To encourage local farmers to plant more rice, the NFA buys palay from them at a maximum price of P17 per kilo depending on the quality as measured by moisture content.

Last year, the NFA spent P4.76 billion on the domestic palay procurement program. This was short by over P10 billion of the P14.79 billion it would have cost to reach its target purchase.

For 2012, the NFA is to buy 1.2 million MT of palay from local farmers. But NFA Administrator Angelito Banayo said the P4-billion budget for it would be insufficient.

To buy 1.2 million MT of unmilled rice from local farmers, the NFA would need P20.4 billion.